1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a luciferase gene derived from Luciola cruciata and a novel recombinant DNA having inserted therein the luciferase gene as well as a method of producing luciferase.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Luciferase from fireflies belonging to the genus Luciola is obtained simply by isolating and purifying from the collected fireflies belonging to the genus Luciola [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 74 (7), 2799-2802 (1977)].
Luciferase is an enzyme which is extremely useful as an enzyme, e.g., for ATP assay.
However, the luciferase described above is derived from insects and hence, for producing luciferase, fireflies belonging to the genus Luciola must be collected from the natural world or such fireflies must be cultivated and luciferase should be isolated and refined from the fireflies so that much time and labors are required for the production.
As a result of various investigations to solve the foregoing problems, the present inventors have found that by obtaining a recombinant DNA having incorporated DNA containing a gene coding for luciferase into a vector DNA and culturing in a medium a luciferase-producing microorganism belonging to the genus Escherichia containing the recombinant DNA, luciferase can be efficiently produced in a short period of time, and the like. Also as a result of further investigations on luciferase gene derived from Luciola cruciata, the present inventors have succeeded in isolating a luciferase gene derived from Luciola cruciata and determining its structure, for the first time and, have thus accomplished the present invention.